A Japanese boy who weighed only 9 ounces when he was born is finally able to go home to his family, two months after what was supposed to be his due date.He was born at about 24 weeks gestation in August after doctors realized his life was in danger, Kyodo News reported."I can only say I'm happy that he has grown this big because honestly, I wasn't sure he could survive," the boy's mother said, according to Tokyo's Keio University Hospital, the BBC reported.The boy was so small that he was roughly the same weight as a pack of butter and could fit in two cupped hands, according to reports.The boy, with a birth weight of 268 grams, is the smallest baby boy to ever to survive, according to the University of Iowa’s Tiniest Babies registry."I want people to know that babies can return home vigorous even if they are born small,” Dr. Takeshi Arimitsu told Kyodo News.The smallest baby, a girl, weighed 252 grams when she was born in Germany in 2015.Any baby born weighing less than 5 pounds, 8 ounces, is considered a low birth weight, according to the March of Dimes.Babies that weigh less than 300 grams when they’re born have about a 50 percent survival rate at the Tokyo hospital, officials said. The survival rate is much lower for boys than it is for girls. Some say that's because boys’ lungs develop slower than girls' lungs.

TOKYO —

A Japanese boy who weighed only 9 ounces when he was born is finally able to go home to his family, two months after what was supposed to be his due date.

He was born at about 24 weeks gestation in August after doctors realized his life was in danger, Kyodo News reported.

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"I can only say I'm happy that he has grown this big because honestly, I wasn't sure he could survive," the boy's mother said, according to Tokyo's Keio University Hospital, the BBC reported.

Keio University Hospital via CNN

The boy was so small that he was roughly the same weight as a pack of butter and could fit in two cupped hands, according to reports.

"I want people to know that babies can return home vigorous even if they are born small,” Dr. Takeshi Arimitsu told Kyodo News.

The smallest baby, a girl, weighed 252 grams when she was born in Germany in 2015.

Any baby born weighing less than 5 pounds, 8 ounces, is considered a low birth weight, according to the March of Dimes.

Babies that weigh less than 300 grams when they’re born have about a 50 percent survival rate at the Tokyo hospital, officials said. The survival rate is much lower for boys than it is for girls. Some say that's because boys’ lungs develop slower than girls' lungs.